10 Pan

But Why?

Potentially the most boring, mind-numbing thing to do in Stardew Valley is panning, so of course the 1.6 update added Pan Upgrades, which means they can now take up the very bottom spot on this list. They're boring and ineffective, yay!

If you haven't tried using them before, pans let you sift through shiny spots in water for materials and some extra goodies, but it takes incredibly long, the upgrades don't make it particularly worth doing, and you're better off spending your time and money elsewhere.

9 Scythe

Minimal Improvements, Pretty Color.

A staple of the early game of Stardew Valley, the Scythe's entire purpose is cutting tall grass into hay, and every other feature of it is replaced by swords that usually swing faster. Some upgrades make it partially worth using and both are (kinda) free.

Namely, the Golden Scythe gives it a bit of extra radius, harvests more hay and can be found in the Quarry mines. The Iridium Scythe, however, will harvest any crop really fast, always gets hay and needs a ton of Farming Mastery to get. Good luck!

8 Trash Can

One Man's Trash is the Same Man's 25G.

Trash Can upgrades are funky, upgrading the trash bin in your inventory that you drag items into to throw them away, but instead of just deleting them, you get a percentage of their sale value, and that percentage goes higher the better they are.

This ranges from 15% at its lowest to 60% at its highest, and while the upgrade can be kinda nice for extended runs through the Skull Caverns, you're perfectly capable of just storing stuff to sell them later instead of bothering with these upgrades.

7 Hoe

Tilling Fast, But Not Too Fast.

If you need to till a massive area, you may be tempted to get one of a plethora of Hoe upgrades, and while those certainly help fulfill the task, there are better ways to do it. Hoe upgrades make you able to till up to eighteen tiles at once, but they're not the best.

You can, in fact, just use bombs to till massive areas at once, and given you only really need to do that once in a blue moon (either in Spring or when you wanna massively expand your farm), the Hoe upgrades probably aren't too worth it.

6 Watering Can

Great Early On, Worthless Later.

Similar to the last one, but still better (I think it's well worth buying everything from now on), the Watering Can is useful to upgrade in the early game, but the more progress you make, the less worthwhile it is to upgrade.

Namely, sprinklers make these upgrades less and less important the more you have, though the initial watering and any farm expansion will still benefit from your upgrades. It's something you should upgrade 2-3 times, but Iridium is arguably overdoing it.

5 Fishing Rod

Fish Faster, Better and Stronger.

The fishing rod upgrades are unique, being sold at Willy's, and given they don't cost any materials and only cost money, they're worth getting by the principle of not having to work too hard to acquire them.

They aren't super exceptional, mostly just allowing you to attach bait and a bobber to your rod, which usually help out quite a bit in catching the harder fish. They're essential if you're going for some hard fishing challenges, but aren't super necessary.

4 Pickaxe

Breaking Things at Moderate Speeds.

While it feels a lot more important than it is, upgrading your Pickaxes serves the sole purpose of making breaking rocks faster. Y'know what else makes breaking rocks faster? Bombs. Those are expensive, though, so you should weigh your options.

In my opinion, Pickaxe upgrades aren't really worth bothering with till you get to the Skull Caverns, and afterward, it's only worth getting the Iridium upgrade once you've got a surplus of the purple stuff. It's nice to break rocks quickly, but not super necessary.

3 Weapons

Tear Through Enemies.

A rather general category, but Weapons are the most diverse category of tools in the game, having you choose between Swords, Daggers, and Hammers, and having a ton of different variations with different effects and stats.

Generally, I like going with whatever Hammer or Sword has the best damage stats, and that usually works out well, but regardless of what you're going for, the Infinity weapons are well worth getting near the end of the game.

2 Axe

Open New Areas, Collect More Wood.

Deceptively effective, the Axe does more than cut down trees faster (though it does do that) as you can also chop down those massive logs and stumps to collect hardwood, which is a surprisingly useful material that's difficult to get anywhere else.

On top of that, getting a shiny new Steel Axe grants you access to the Secret Woods, which gives you a consistent source of hardwood, contains a Stardrop, and has some special fish. It's an important upgrade, especially since bombs suck at breaking trees.

1 Backpack

Technically a Tool, Always Great.

Alright, I get this one is technically stretching the definition of a tool, but it's an upgradeable utility so it counts by my standards. Backpack upgrades are bought from Pierre, and they all provide you with a ton of extra inventory space.

Each upgrade gives you another ten slots to work with, which means you can haul more stuff from the mines, carry all your tools, not have to leave your hoe at home when you might find worms, and it's just great to hoard more stuff.